Making Footprints
by secretnumber-486
Summary: When the snow falls... will he remember? Yuki x Machi


**Making Footprints**

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket or any of its characters.

A/N: So… I'm failing come up with any decent stuff for my other Fruits Basket story that I've got going right now, so… I thought that I'd quickly write this for fun, while my inspiration for my other story is on hold… Yuki and Machi are a favorite pairing of mine, so… here's a little something short and sweet!

ooooooooooooooooooooo

"_I HATE winter. But…I wonder if…maybe... will he…remember?" _Shaking her head, Machi shoved the question out of her mind, mad at herself for even considering it.

The snow… it was… flawless; a great, sprawling mass of white perfection, covering every surface, gleaming in the morning sun.

She could feel herself choking up, and could sense her control slipping as she observed the perfect serenity spread before her, its pure whiteness pressing in on her. Suffocating her.

Clenching her fists, she forced herself to look down, fighting the growing, familiar sensation, and the need to run around, crushing the snow, breaking its faultless surface. She knew that it was a negative tendency that she had to break. But… looking up again at the expanse of smooth snow, Machi could feel the panic setting in. She could feel her heart beating faster and could hear the blood beginning to pound in her ears as her eyes darted around, looking for something, anything, any form of imperfection in the covering of snow that would save her from losing face. But she found nothing, and the quiet stillness only added to her growing agitation.

Fists clenched again, she knew that she was on the verge of snapping. Ignoring the cold air nipping at her face, she surrendered to herself and began striding out of her front gate, ready to blindly trample away all of the perfection, when—

_Plop._

A rock fell onto the middle of the road in front of her, sinking through the snow and making a large, ugly crater. Machi stared at it, her heartbeat calming, as she comprehended the fact that there was now a medium-sized, dark object right in the middle of the covering of snow, rudely intruding upon the serenity that had been the source of her anxiety not five seconds before.

"What the…?" Suddenly realizing that the rock couldn't have just fallen from the sky, Machi's eyes darted around again, this time searching for the person who had saved her sanity. Her eyes fell upon the only person in the vicinity-- an overcoat-clad figure leaning casually against a telegraph pole. She squinted, unable to make out a face at such a distance. The figure pushed itself away from the pole and began making its way towards her, and she could hear the shoes crunching in the snow that had fallen overnight.

And suddenly, as the person drew closer, Machi recognized who it was.

"_Of course. It had to be him. I knew he'd show up, but at the same time, I didn't..."_

Yuki reached her, a small smile apparent on his face. Machi found that all of a sudden her face wasn't cold anymore. Unable to look him in the eye, she focused her gaze instead on the small puffs of breath coming from his mouth, forming temporary clouds in the icy air.

"Did you forget our promise?" Yuki looked down at her, still smiling.

Machi suddenly discovered that the tips of her boots were incredibly interesting, and found it necessary that she keep staring at them.

"I… well, no, but… you… I didn't…" Machi risked a glance up at Yuki's face, only to catch his eye for a split second before snapping her head straight back down to look at her shoes. Willing herself to produce even a vaguely coherent sentence, Machi steeled herself. "How… I mean… why did you throw the rock?"

Yuki chuckled, and it was this sound that made her look up at him.

"Well, I thought of you as soon as I looked out the window this morning."

Machi blushed at this statement. "Uh… really…"

"Yep. So I made my way over here, thinking that the snow would be driving you crazy, and I was right."

Machi stuttered, suddenly indignant, "I-I wasn't going crazy! I was just—"

She faltered mid-sentence as Yuki reached out and put a gloved hand on her head. "You were ABOUT to go crazy. I was watching you from all the way over there, and it's a good thing that I threw the rock when I did. Otherwise you would have gone and made footprints without me."

She wondered briefly whether it was possible that any more blood could possibly run to her cheeks. She knew that she blushed easily around Yuki, but this was just ridiculous. She was concentrating on getting the blush back under control, when he removed his hand from her head and looked thoughtful.

"Actually, I noticed that the snow was piling up last night, and I was a little worried that some of it would melt away before today."

Machi blinked. "… Why?"

This time it was Yuki's face that reddened, although only slightly.

"Because I was hoping that I would be able to come and make footprints with you, like I promised. Last night, I was… I was looking forward to it. So it would have been bad if the snow had melted away."

Yuki suddenly noticed that Machi's face was turning steadily redder as he spoke. Grinning to himself, he leant over to try and look her in the eye. "Are you blushing?"

"Wha...? Shut up! No! As if! I mean…! No!"

Yuki laughed, the sound filling the empty street. "You are blushing!"

"I am NOT!"

"Heh… well…" Yuki stepped closer, until the toes of his shoes were almost touching hers. Surprised, Machi looked up at him, her eyes wide. He tilted his head, smiling down at her, and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her left ear. "It's cute".

Machi's eyes widened even further, her heart racing, speechless, and unable to tear herself away from his gaze. Yuki lowered his head until their eyes were almost level, and their faces were so close that Machi could feel their fringes touching. She was struck with the abrupt thought that anybody watching from even a short distance away would think that they were kissing. She felt herself blush again, and thought fiercely that somebody should invent some kind of way that allowed people to stop blushing when they felt like it.

"So…" Yuki smiled, "Let's go make footprints together, okay?"

Still unable to speak, Machi bit her lower lip and nodded, watching as he straightened up and started to walk towards the road. She followed slowly, and for some unknown reason, her hand started to hesitantly reach out towards his. Just as it was far enough away from her body to make her intentions clear, Yuki glanced back over his shoulder, perhaps to say something, but instead caught sight of Machi snatching her hand back and shoving it into her pocket, turning her head so that he couldn't see her face.

"Hm?"

"Nothing!"

"But you were—"

"Nngh! I wasn't!"

"But your—"

"No! No, it wasn't!"

"But I saw—"

"No, you didn't! Something must be wrong with your eyes!"

Without saying anything, Yuki reached over, extracted the traitorous hand, held it with his own and smiled at Machi's expression.

"You know, you really are cute when you blush." And with that he started walking again, slowly, allowing Machi to fall into step alongside him.

Machi looked down at their intertwined fingers, embarrassed, but couldn't help a small smile from spreading across her face. _"Maybe winter isn't so bad, after all…"_

oooooooooooooo

So, there's my first Yuki/Machi story! I find them so cute together… hee XD I tried to make it "cute", but… for some reason, even when I know that I want to make a story funny, sad, etc, I find it hard to write in different styles… sigh. Well, as always, feedback is very welcome! I'm considering writing a second chapter for this, and I'm anticipating that it will be kinda sad, but if you think it would be wiser for me to end it here, by all means let me know! Thanks for reading!


End file.
